For local racers and track officials, the recent weather has been downright horrible.

Officials at Houston Motorsports Park, the three-eighths-mile, high-banked paved oval, already have had to cancel a trio of dates because of the heavy rains.

At this point in the season, drivers should have run enough races to be halfway through the season.

But with only six races run in what started out as a 17-race schedule, drivers and track officials are crossing their fingers that none of the remaining eight races falls victim to the weather.

"It's a part of our business, and though you can't plan for when it will happen, we do budget and expect rainouts during the year," said John Mandabach, general manager and vice president at HMP.

Battleground Speedway and Gator Motorplex in Willis also have been affected by the weather.

But at HMP, the problems have bee magnified because the track also has a drag strip that has been even more affected by the weather than the oval track.

"We have had three rainouts on the oval track this year," Mandabach said. "We have had many more days of rainouts on the drag strip because it is open every Friday and Sunday, in addition to monthly Saturday special events."

But while it is easy to make the decision to cancel an event when it is pouring rain on race day, it gets much harder trying to predict the weather.

And that is something Mandabach and track officials throughout the Houston area have to do on a weekly basis.

"We keep a very close eye on several weather-reporting websites, including the National Weather Service, weather.com and local news channels," Mandabach said. "Historically, anything averaging above 40 percent almost always results in rain at HMP. In the case of canceling an event due to the forecast, we try to make the decision by Thursday evening or Friday morning at the latest to save our racers the fuel expenses."

HMP and other area tracks will have a chance to resume action this weekend, with racing scheduled on pavement and dirt.

New car for Brogdon

NHRA Pro Stock driver Rodger Brogdon is about to shut it down for the next three events on the 2012 schedule.

Brogdon, a Tomball resident and driver of the MAVTV Pontiac GXP, will miss the upcoming events at Denver this weekend, followed by Sonoma, Calif., (July 27-29) and Seattle (Aug. 3-5).

Brogdon is about to make the switch from his Pontiac that has him ninth in the standings to a new Chevy Camaro. He plans to spend the time off testing the new car so it is ready to go when the team resumes its schedule Aug. 16-19 at Brainerd, Minn.

That gives Brogdon two events - Brainerd and Indianapolis on Aug. 29-Sept. 3 - to make up for any points lost during his hiatus and get himself into the six-race Countdown to the Championship, which takes racers in the top 10 in each pro class.